from 500 AD
Bantu peoples migrate from central Africa to southern Africa and settle in the Cape region.
1488
Bartolomeu Diaz sails around the Cape of Good Hope and is the first European to set foot on South African soil in Mossel Bay.
1652
Jan van Riebeeck founds Cape Town on behalf of the United East India Company as a provisioning station for Dutch ships travelling to India.
1688
Huguenots flee France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes that had guaranteed them religious freedom. Some of them settle on the Cape and receive land in the area of today's "Franschhoek" (French corner). Immigration of Dutch and German settlers; emergence of a slave-holding farming and trading community of Boers (from "boeren" = farmers) and suppression of the cattle farming Khoi-Khoi and San.
From 1760
Trek of the semi-nomadic cattle-farming Boers into the interior of the country meets the Xhosa in the south-east and triggers "border war" along the Eastern coast which was to last for centuries.
1790-1828
The Zulus develop into a military heavyweight under King Shaka.
1814
Following occupation in 1806, the Cape becomes a British Crown Colony.
1835-1841
Following increased immigration of British settlers and after the abolition of slavery, some 6,000 Boers embark on the Great Trek from the Cape colony to the north-east.
1843
Britain annexes Natal.
1854
Establishment of the Boer Orange Free State and expulsion of the Griqua under their leader Adam Kok to East Griqua Land (Natal)
1856
Natal is separated from the Cape colony and becomes a British Crown colony with representative self-government.
1880/1881
The independent Transvaal Republic under President Paulus (Ohm) Krüger is proclaimed, and the Boers defeat the British at Majuba Hill (so-called first independence war).
1886
Beginning of gold mining at Witwatersrand, the world's biggest gold mining region; start of the economic ascendancy of Johannesburg and Transvaal.
1887
The Zulu country is annexed and made part of Natal.
1899-1902
The Second Anglo-Boer war ends with a British victory ("Peace Treaty of Vereeniging") and the annexation of the Orange Free State and Transvaal (1900).
1910
Founding of the Union of South Africa made up of the former Boer republics and the British colonies Natal and Cape. Louis Botha becomes the first Prime Minister. The Black population is not included in the formation of a new state and receives no political rights.
1911-1914
First wave of racial discrimination laws: Mines and Works Act, Colour Bar Act, Native Labour Regulation Act, Natives' Land Act, Riotous Assemblies Act; 1923: Urban Areas Act; 1927: Immorality Act.
1912
Founding of the African National Congress (ANC).
1920
Assignment of the so-called "C-Mandate" by the League of Nations for German South West Africa to the South African Union allowing for its administration as an integral part of South Africa.
1931
South Africa is granted full independence in the British Commonwealth.
1946
South Africa's application for final annexation of South West Africa is turned down by the General Assembly of the United Nations. South Africa thereupon refuses in 1947 to return to the United Nations the League of Nations Mandate.
1949-1957
Extensive apartheid legislation: Bantu Authorities Act, Bantu Education Act, population registered according to race, regionally structured Bantu authorities, Native Laws Amendment.
1958
Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd introduces the principle of separate development (the complete territorial segregation of Blacks and Whites). Beginnings of the Bantustan policy (Promotion of Bantu Self-Government Act).
1960
At an anti-apartheid demonstration in Sharpeville, 69 people are shot by police. The African National Congress (ANC) and the Pan African Congress (PAC) are outlawed and continue their work underground. Nelson Mandela is one of the ANC's leading activists.
1961
Founding of the Republic of South Africa with an executive president instead of the governor-general and secession from the British Commonwealth following an all-White referendum.
1962
Nelson Mandela is arrested and later condemned to life imprisonment.
1975
Founding of the Inkatha movement under Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
1976
Brutal suppression of student riots in Soweto which were aimed against the enforced introduction of Afrikaans as the language of instruction in Black schools ends in bloodshed.
1976-1981
"Independence" granted to the Bantu states of Transkei (1976), Bophuthatswana (1977), Venda (1979), and Ciskei (1981) so-called homelands.
1984
Following a constitutional amendment, Asians and coloureds are granted limited rights to share in decisions. Archbishop Desmond Tutu receives the Nobel Peace Prize.
1989-1990
President P.W. Botha resigns. His successor President F.W. de Klerk declares apartheid policy to be a failure. Nelson Mandela is released after 27 years of imprisonment. The ban on the ANC and 32 other Opposition groups is lifted. International economic sanctions are gradually eased.
1991
With the abolition of the Native Land Act (Group Area legislation) and the Population Registration Act, the foundations of apartheid policy are removed.
1993
Assassination of SACP Chairman Chris Hani; Nelson Mandela and President De Klerk receive the Nobel Peace Prize.
1994
On 27 April,the first free elections in South Africa's history are held which the ANC wins with 62% of the vote. Nelson Mandela becomes the first Black President.
1995
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission is set up under the chairmanship of Archbishop Desmond Tutu to examine the violence and human rights violations during the time of apartheid.
1996
The new South African Constitution is signed. The New National Party leaves the national unity Government and joins the Opposition ranks.
1997-1999
On 4 February, the new Constitution comes into force. Nelson Mandela passes his office to his successor Thabo Mbeki. The first elections following the promulgation of the new Constitution are held and Thabo Mbeki is confirmed in office.
With friendly permission of: German Federal Foreign Office |
